The stars of 2007

13 December 2007 — 11:00am

Debi Enker analyses the year's successes and failures and a changing of the guard in ratings dominance.

IN 2007, the federal election campaign seemed to stretch through the year. The Nine Network suffered its worst period in decades, while the ABC enjoyed some ratings at levels usually experienced by its commercial rivals.

A long-time runner-up, the Seven Network finally claimed a coveted ratings victory over its arch rival, Nine, while Ten had an unspectacular, steady-as-she-goes run. SBS attempted some local production initiatives and continued to arouse viewer ire with its policy, introduced late last year, of breaking programs with commercials.

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Pay TV introduced some exciting original local and international programming and held its audience, which now amounts to about a quarter of Australian television households, a share roughly equal to the ABC and SBS combined.

It was a year when Today Tonight host Anna Coren became Queen of the Segue and two great American drama series, The Sopranos and The West Wing, took their final bows.

Chris Lilley revealed more of his genius, Mary Kostakidis left SBS, Rove shifted to Sunday nights and produced a better show, Seven regained the footy, Dancing with the Stars showed it still had legs and Ugly Betty gave 60 Minutes a scare — although it was the foxy ladies from Fountain Lakes who really wounded the current-affairs warhorse.

With all these events in mind, the 10 that shaped the year are:

1. Seven wins '07

There was a time, not so long ago, when it looked like the Seven Network would never have what it takes to be the leading commercial network. There was no sphere in which it could defeat the dominant Nine Network: its news and current-affairs programs drew fewer viewers; its imports didn't have as much appeal; its studio-based shows looked shabbier.

And if there hadn't been footy to help it along back then, the situation would have looked even sadder. In the time after it lost the AFL rights to Nine, Ten and Foxtel, Seven attempted to refashion itself as the home for local drama, which proved a short-lived strategy.

But following a few years of steady improvement, 2007 was The One for Seven. It won the ratings nationally for the first time since 1978, claiming 38 weeks to Nine's two. In Melbourne, where Seven hasn't won since 1976, it won 32 weeks to Nine's five, and tied with Nine for three weeks.

The success has come on the back of a range of local and imported programs. Among the home-grown winners, spanning a range of genres, are Kath & Kim, Border Security, The Force, Dancing with the Stars, City Homicide, Australia's Got Talent, The Rich List and It Takes Two.

Seven has also been enjoying good value from its American distribution deals. While Nine bled every last drop from the CSI franchise and other productions from the Bruckheimer stable, Ten relied largely on the appeal of House and NCIS. Meanwhile, Seven had an array of popular programs including Desperate Housewives, Bionic Woman, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Heroes, Brothers and Sisters and Lost.

2. A network reels

Following a rocky 15-month stint as chief executive of the Nine Network, Eddie McGuire announced he would step down at the end of June, but stay in an on-air role.

June also saw the departure of Mia Freedman, whom McGuire enlisted to develop programs that would attract female viewers. The show she initiated during her 12-month stint was The Catch-Up, cloned from the US daytime success The View.

Featuring panellists Libbi Gorr, Mary Moody, Zoe Sheridan and Lisa Oldfield, it was a ratings failure, drawing fewer viewers than The Young and the Restless, the soap it replaced.

June also brought news that the Packer era at Nine was over. Following his father Kerry's death in December 2005, James Packer sold three-quarters of his television interests to private equity company CVC Asia Pacific, his PBL company moving from full ownership of the network to a 25% share.

In September, David Gyngell announced his return to Nine as CEO. The seventh chief executive in less than six years, Gyngell had resigned the position in 2005 after 11 turbulent months. Word of his return was greeted with relief by a demoralised Nine staff.

3. Something to smile about

After years in the doldrums, local comedy enjoyed a renaissance. There was diversity, there was popular appeal, there were familiar favourites and new faces. Kath and Kim went commercial and enjoyed ratings rewards.

Thank God You're Here bounced happily through two more bouts of improvised gags. The ABC's faith in the talented Chris Lilley was again rewarded as Summer Heights High saw him develop a trio of indelible characters.

The Librarians offered a vehicle for the husband-and-wife team of Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler to display their distinctive style of comedy. SBS managed laudable initiatives with Wilfred and Newstopia, and persisted with Pizza.

Perhaps typical of the year at Nine, Mick Molloy's disappointing satirical chat show, The Nation, quietly petered out. However, one of Ten's few initiatives paid off with Rove's move to Sunday night producing a tighter show and improved ratings.

4. Dramatic revival

Like local comedy, home-grown drama has for the past few years suffered a drought, but 2007 saw some hopeful signs of regeneration. Following the axing of the long-running Blue Heelers last year, Seven successfully launched a new cop show.

City Homicide, a 13-part ensemble series written by John Hugginson and John Banas and starring Shane Bourne, Daniel MacPherson, Nadine Garner, Aaron Pedersen, Damien Richardson and Noni Hazlehurst, premiered strongly and held its audience through its first season, auguring well for the second one the network commissioned.

Also moving to a second season is Nine's naval drama, Sea Patrol, which also started well but didn't hold its audience as successfully, dropping 700,000 viewers through its run. Nine also announced the end of McLeod's Daughters, which will ride off into the sunset after eight seasons.

The ABC's two-part dramatisation of the 1998 waterfront dispute, Bastard Boys, caused waves of controversy and won writer Sue Smith an Australian Writers Guild award for best television miniseries.

However, disappointing for the ABC — in terms of ratings not quality — was the six-part Rain Shadow, starring Rachel Ward and Victoria Thaine as country vets working in a drought-stricken South Australian community. Neither Rain Shadow, nor SBS' Broome-based legal drama, The Circuit, starring Pedersen and Gary Sweet, drew the audiences they deserved, and SBS also struggled with Kick.

New drama also made its mark on pay TV, where the offerings ranged from the series Dangerous to the third season of Love My Way, the impressive telemovie The King and Satisfaction.

5. News wars

It was the tightest contest in decades. As the ascendant Seven Network gained ground and won timeslots everywhere, in Melbourne, the 6pm news, long a key Nine stronghold, continued to prove a battleground. Two years ago, Seven won one official survey week in the ratings season (early February to the end of November, with a few non-ratings weeks in between).

Last year, it won 16 weeks to Nine's 24. In 2007, Seven started the year strongly, but Nine gained in the second half. By the end of the ratings season, National Nine News had won 19 weeks and Seven News 20, the two tied one week (though Nine News disputes this, claiming that week as a win and the whole year as a draw).

It wasn't so long ago that Nine won every week by a substantial margin. But in 2007, one bad call might have affected Seven's winning streak. In August, a story on alleged drug use by a couple of AFL players, following Seven's acquisition of their confidential medical records, saw a swift player backlash and arguably also spurred a negative viewer response.

6. Chasing Aunty

In what proved to be the most inspired programming move of the year, the ABC shifted The Chaser's War on Everything from a late-night slot on Fridays to a plum prime-time position on Wednesdays.

The move helped boost Aunty's midweek comedy and light-entertainment line-up, which included The New Inventors, Spicks and Specks, Extras, Summer Heights High, The Librarians and At the Movies. The Chaser attracted the kinds of ratings that commercial networks dream about and quickly activated speculation about the team's defection to greener commercial pastures.

Glee and outrage surrounded their 2007 season as they pestered then prime minister John Howard on his morning walks, breached APEC security, questioned the canonisation of the deceased in The Eulogy Song, and generally enacted cheeky plots that should make sales assistants, waiters and security guards everywhere antsy.

Special mention to Andrew Hansen's hair, a weekly flight of fancy that made the most of a visual medium.

7. Bad news: Mary gets contrary

SBS launched its new-look, hour-long 6.30pm world news service early in the year, co-hosted by longtime anchor Mary Kostakidis and new recruit Stan Grant, a former presenter of Seven's Real Life and CNN correspondent.

But the chilliness in the studio was a consequence of more than just the cold blue colour palette. Rumours of tensions between the hosts were confirmed in August, when Kostakidis, the network's highest-profile personality and a respected on-air talent who had been associated with the broadcaster for 21 years, took two weeks' sick leave, citing stress, and didn't return.

She then took legal action in the Federal Court claiming breach of contract, saying she had been bullied, humiliated and treated with contempt by SBS senior management. Last year, Kostakidis broke ranks and expressed her concerns about the new ad breaks during SBS' news and current-affairs programs. On November 23, Kostakidis and SBS announced they had "reached an amicable settlement".

8. Reality bites

The Ten Network once again relied on its reality TV "tent poles" to prop up its schedule through the year, with unspectacular results. The Biggest Loser 2,Big Brother 7 and Australian Idol 5 didn't prove as popular as their predecessors and speculation surrounded their futures. In 2004, Idol attracted 3.35 million viewers to its Opera House finale: this year there were 1.45 million.

Ten quietened the doubts about a 2008 season of Big Brother by announcing that original host Gretel Killeen would end her seven years with the show, to be replaced by Australian Idol judge Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O, his radio partner, who so far hasn't had a brilliant TV career.

9. What a (bad) year

Maybe it seems unkind to dwell on Nine's misfortunes when the once-dominant — heck, even arrogant — network has endured its worst year in nearly three decades. But the awfulness of some of its programming moves needs to be remembered, if only to ensure they're not repeated — a philosophy clearly lost on Surprise Surprise Gotcha, which limply revived a concept that failed in 2000.

Nine's cynical, badly conceived and often rushed-to-air parade of programs might have made the bean counters happy: if nothing else, they would have been cheap to produce. But they certainly didn't attract an audience, and where viewers go, advertisers follow.

There are just so many clip shows that can be cobbled together to plug schedule holes, just so many dubious formats cloned, and just so many quality shows spoiled by erratic programming. Among the failures and tepid successes: The Catch-Up, Commercial Break, Just for Laughs, The Nation, Wine Me, Dine Me and The Singing Bee — for which it was deemed necessary to import an American host. What a Year, hosted by Bert Newton and Julia Zemiro, lasted two weeks, 1 v 100 vanished and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire limped back.

The Farmer Wants a Wife pinched an idea that SBS used in 2004. Bert's Family Feud finished in June. The horror run was typified by Viva Laughlin, a series produced by Hugh Jackman's company and rushed directly to air after its US debut in order to bolster the network's problematic Monday line-up.

Reviews overseas were damning: the New York Times suggested the musical-drama hybrid could be the worst show in the history of television. It was axed after two episodes. But its swift appearance here indicated just how bare Nine's shelves had become. Two imports the network tossed away were The Sopranos — stupidly delayed — and Damages. Both were subjected to a roulette wheel of slot changes.

Of course, other networks also had their failures and disappointments. Ten had Celebrity Dog School and The ConTest; ABC had The Sideshow and Difference of Opinion; Seven saw the ratings for National Bingo Night drop faster than a coloured ball in the "bingoplex".

10. Songs of joy

To end on a high note, one of the year's standouts was the five-part ABC documentary series, Choir of Hard Knocks. Initiator, tenor and inspiring choirmaster Jonathan Welch orchestrated the project, bringing the homeless and disadvantaged together in a group singing journey that proved a moving celebration of spirit and endeavour.

A follow-up Opera House special screened in November and attracted 850,000 viewers. Hallelujah.